China Isn’t Cutting Education Investments

Marc Johnson is the interim president of the University of Nevada, Reno.

Updated September 6, 2011, 11:58 AM

First, the cost of college at public universities has not been rising rapidly in the last few years, although the share of student responsibility for covering the cost has risen. The decisions of state governments to rapidly reduce financial support for college education have led to the necessity of universities raising tuition. While the overall cost has not increased greatly, students are shouldering more of it.

Costs at public universities have not been going up, but students are paying more for their share.

By raising tuition, universities are merely replacing state fund reductions. Universities that are cutting back to core missions of teaching and research, maintaining the strength of core programs, and retaining quality, experienced faculty actually are controlling the cost of education, even as tuition goes up to replace the states’ reduced support for developing an educated population.

Of course state policy reflects the will of the people, and the current prevailing winds are to reduce state investment in education. Calling for a cheap education will lead us toward becoming a country that will be at a decided competitive disadvantage with the rest of the world – much of which is actually investing in higher education at record levels, the most notable example being China – for many years to come.